Apple Pay has been acclaimed as the smoothest and most convenient mobile wallet system yet. There’s just one problem, though — the system it’s trying to replace just isn’t that inconvenient.
BACKGROUND: Apple just showed us how Apple Pay will work with the Apple Watch – and it’s awesome
Sure, using Apple Pay might be slightly faster than pulling out your wallet but do most of us really roll our eyes every time we have to pull out our credit cards and swipe them through credit card readers?
Business Insider cites a recent study conducted by anti-fraud startup Trustev showing that 80% of iPhone users who are able to use Apple Pay on their devices still haven’t even tried it yet. Trustev CEO Pat Phelan writes that these results show that “maybe paying with cards is just not that painful.”
“For years, techies have been pitching e-wallets to consumers, but they don’t seem interested,” he explains. “Even after Apple has launched by far the most elegant version to date, consumer adoption is light.”
This could be where the Apple Watch comes in. As we saw on Monday, you’ll be able to use Apple Pay on the Apple Watch just by moving the device toward the payment terminal, which will automatically turn on the app to let you complete the transaction. This takes away the step of having to pull out and unlock your iPhone before completing a transaction and could actually be convenient enough to make replacing your credit card worthwhile.
